Some extremely large tentacled creature washed up in the 1880s on some Florida coast and it was about 8 feet thick and one sucker on one tentacle was12 inches across. They kept it in alcohol snd someone got the idea of DNA testing it. It was an octopus that had become the apex predator because of all the whaling and the fact they don't have an upper size limit and as long as they eat they grow and at that size it could eat anything short of a sperm whale.

...And the idea was, the shark comes to the nearest man and that man, he'd start poundin' and hollerin' and screamin' and sometimes the shark would go away. Sometimes he wouldn't go away. Sometimes that shark, he looks right into you. Right into your eyes. You know the thing about a shark, he's got...lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll's eye. When he comes at ya, doesn't seem to be livin'. Until he bites ya and those black eyes roll over white. And then, ah then you hear that terrible high pitch screamin' and the ocean turns red and spite of all the poundin' and the hollerin' they all come in and rip you to pieces...

Or maybe you rip the shark to pieces.Just be sure to leave the eye.So it'll wash up on some beach and teach some kid a lesson about sharks.Now where's me rum.

Nuclear Monk:Ok...so it's pretty neat and all, but...why does it need to be studied/identified? Is there honestly a belief it belongs to godzilla, and at best, aren't they really only going to say it's either something completely mundane or that they have no idea what it is?

Is there a sea creature eye identification chart out there somewhere they are going to consult?

Yes, yes there is.

"Wave your tentacles if you can read the bottom line. No? try the next one up..."

Smackledorfer:Deman: Nuclear Monk: Ok...so it's pretty neat and all, but...why does it need to be studied/identified? Is there honestly a belief it belongs to godzilla, and at best, aren't they really only going to say it's either something completely mundane or that they have no idea what it is?

Is there a sea creature eye identification chart out there somewhere they are going to consult?

Probably hope that it doesn't match any of the gigantic marine species we already know about, suggesting that we have yet to discover another creature of Leviathanic proportions.

Or, in the case of squid/octopus, some evidence that they get bigger than we've seen. Afaik we've seen bigger scars on sperm whales than would match recorded collosal squid.

We see something new every time we take a peek down there.

Also, living under the sea is the solution to all of my problems. I can't wait for gills.

Afaik, the recent thinking is the whale got the scars while younger, then they stretched as it grew.